February 2018 Posted in Community, Nature | Comments Off on Detroit dilemma: Preserving fish could mean a dry lake for a year or more

By James Day

The Santiam Canyon and the Detroit Lake area are used to economic downturns. Timber industry job losses. Droughts. Wildfires. The cycles can be dizzying.

Now, the region is facing another economic challenge, this one required by the federal government.

A standing-room-only crowd of more than 100 people crammed the Gates Fire Station Community Room on Jan. 17 for a public meeting to hear about it.

The United States Army Corps of Engineers is attempting to find a way to preserve salmon and steelhead runs on the North Santiam River in a project that will cost upwards of $100 million and perhaps as much as $250 million.

February 2018 Posted in Community, News, Other, People | Comments Off on Service integration: Community collaboration outreach expands

By Mary Owen

Help for those in the Santiam Canyon is growing through a unique outreach:
Service Integration Teams.

“One of the biggest challenges for our smaller communities is being able to find a simple way to respond to needs of individuals, families and organizations with resources that can make a positive impact,” said Allison McKenzie, executive director of GROW-EDC. “By getting so many agency players in the room at one time – or connected by e-mail – the flow of information is much more effective, the collective brain power available to solve a problem is immense and far-reaching, and the response time is significantly shorter than it is when agencies try to do this all by themselves.

Patrick Collier’s series of photographs entitled Field Burns, invites viewers to not only find beauty in the destructive nature of fire but also to think about the politics that surround agricultural field burning.
A series of 20 pieces photographed over a three year span, Field Burns is Collier’s first venture into landscape photography. An artist since childhood, Collier began his career in poetry, moving on to theater and eventually to sculpture and drawing.
“I have always – evidently – made art. I used to write poetry when I was six and seven years old. I don’t see any other option. That’s the only thing that I really pursued that called to me.”
With an MFA from the University of Illinois in Chicago and many years of study in philosophy, literature and the arts, Collier and his wife took a surprising detour in 2011, purchasing a 14-acre farm in Stayton. “We just wanted a change of pace and life,” he explained.

A grandmother from Ohio teamed with her 13-year-old granddaughter from Stayton to craft their first book. Bev Hughes and her granddaughter, Quinci Woodall collaborated in publishing Glimm: A Glimpse of Light Found in September.

“Quinci crafted all the illustrations,” Hughes said. “She was just 12 when she completed her illustration assignments. She has loved art since a 3-year-old and has won a couple of art awards from school and the Keizer Art Association.”

Available on Amazon.com, the book targets middle school readers and presents six adventure stories while “discovering light in oneself and coming of age,” Hughes said.

February 2018 Posted in Community | Comments Off on Lasting results: Tass Morrison receives Distinguished Service award

By Mary Owen

Nine were nominated for their service to the community, but one rose to the top: Tass Morrison.

“To know Tass is to love her commitment, education and service,” nominators said of the winner of the 2017 Stayton Sublimity Chamber of Commerce Distinguished Service award. Other comments included, “Tass is a role model in diplomacy, willingness to listen and not sit idle on the sidelines, but jump in and get things done!” and “Tass Morrison is a class act, giving her time and energy to improving our local school, businesses and community.”

The Santiam Heritage Foundation will host an Oregon Pioneer Spirit Folk Music Play-In as one of its first events in the newly named Brown House Event Center.

“When the Santiam Heritage Foundation was formed in 2001 to save the 1903 Charles and Martha Brown House, members decided not to make it a museum,” said Steve Poisson, vice president of the board of trustees.

February 2018 Posted in Community, Sports & Recreation | Comments Off on Flying higher: Stayton girls in top 5 under AD/Coach Darren Shryock

In just his second year as the head coach at Stayton, Darren Shryock has his girls basketball squad in the top five.

The Eagles are 12-4 overall and ranked No. 5 in Class 4A by the OSAA. Stayton, Cascade, North Marion and Newport all are 2-1 in the early going in the Oregon West Conference. Cascade is ranked sixth and North Marion eighth.

Shryock, who coached the Silverton High boys team to two third-place finishes at state in his 12 years there, is in his fourth year as the athletic director at Stayton. It is his second season coaching the girls.

February 2018 Posted in Columnists & Opinion | Comments Off on Ode to YouTube… or should that be ‘owed’?

Readers of this column will recall that I believe the internet will destroy civilization as we know it. It draws out the dark side of people and provides a voice for every wing nut in the universe, including those that we have elected to public office. In the not-so-distant future, the internet will turn society into a “Hunger Games” of snarky comments and uninformed “opinions.”

Well, I was wrong. There is an exception to the nonsense powered by Facebook, Instagram and all of the other anti-social media. It is YouTube.

January 2018 Posted in Community, Nature | Comments Off on Firewise: Detroit, Idanha first in county to adopt fire prevention program

By Mary Owen

The Firewise signs are up! Detroit and Idanha have joined the ranks of Firewise communities in Oregon, and signs revealing their status were unveiled on Dec. 8 along Highway 22.

Both North Santiam Canyon cities earned the Firewise title with the support of the Idanha-Detroit Rural Fire Protection District, Oregon Department of Forestry, and the U.S. Forest Service. Both cities are at the highest risk of wildfires in northwest Oregon and are the first communities in Marion County to receive the title of Firewise community.

January 2018 Posted in Community | Comments Off on Road closure: Businesses effected by deadly Hwy. 22 tanker accident

By Mary Owen

After wildfires impacted local businesses last fall, a tanker crash that closed Hwy. 22 may have additional repercussions.

“The fatal crash near Idanha spilled gasoline and subsequently (closing) Hwy. 22 is already impacting our local businesses,” said Allison McKenzie, executive director of GROW-EDC, of the Dec. 15 rollover accident. “Many of our businesses along Hwy. 22 get a boost from holiday traffic and are already feeling the pinch of this highway closure.”

The stretch of highway between Santiam Junction and Idanha was closed for repairs, environmental reparation, water viability checks and other response measures. The highway re-opened to through traffic the night of Dec. 21, nearly a week after the accident.